Pretending Prime
by Ostseemaedchen
Summary: Post RotF! After an accident involving massive amounts of Energon, Optimus Prime discovers a new code in his system, allowing him to transform into a human being. How will he use his latest "update"?
1. Prologue

Author's Note:  
Hope you guys like it. This will probably be the most unromantic chapter of the story, so chime up, it'll get better. I'm a sucker for romance so it's ought to.  
Have a look at my profile for updating infos etc.  
Also, please leave a review if you've got constructive criticism or you just want to drop a note.  
Thanks for putting up with my rambling.  
Have fun reading.

* * *

**Pretending Prime**

**Prologue**

"Will he make it?" Sam Witwicky's stricken features came into view, as he stepped out from behind agent Lennox who had led him into the subterranean military lab they had converted into a medical bay to fit the giant autobot-leader Optimus Prime.

"We're not sure yet, Sam!" it was Ratchet who answered.

The medic autobot looked up from his patient who remained in the same still, lifeless position they had found him in. The only sign that the last of the Primes was indeed not dead was the small yet steady shine of his spark that Ratchet had layed free.

Besides Ratchet it was only Ironhide and Bumblebee, more of the gigantic transformers would not have fit in alongside the various "medical" utensils.

By the time that Sam had finished his survey of the situation Lennox had already moved on and now stood next to a small communication base, made up of a few monitors, giving an overview of the complete area around the entrance to the base. Outside was set up a small camp of soldiers from NEST additionally to keep an eye at movements outside of the cameras angles.

"Chief Master Seargant Epps, report!" Lennox spoke into a small microphone and a rustling sound could be heard on the other end.

"Mayor!" it was Robert Epps who whispered back. "There's no sign of infiltration since you entered, no sign of decepticon-activity, actually since Jolt left we've not seen a transformer at all. It's quite here! Too quite if you're asking me though, sir!"

"Don't speculate too much, Epps, maybe those decepticons will leave us in peace for once!" Lennox answered.

"I don't know, Will," Epps whispered even more quietly, this was only between him and Lennox, as friends, "I've a bad feeling about this. Do you really think they'll pass up a chance like this? Optimus is no match now, they could kill him off all too easily for my taste."

"I know Robert, I know... so god help us," he paused and thought this over, "or maybe I should rather say Allspark help us. Lennox over!"

It was quiet. Sam, now standing next to a clueless Ratchet, was thinking about what Lennox and Epps had said and he too knew that the decepticons would not pass up the chance to destroy Optimus Prime once again without a good reason.

Lennox made his way over, one hand massaging his right temple. The man had been up and on the go for the past two days, since they'd found the Prime.

"Where did you find him anyway?" Sam asked, the information that he had about the disastrous accident were few.

"I cannot go into detail, Sam," Lennox sighed, "but we found him near a supposedly abandonded old military area in the middle of nowhere in Texas."

Sam's eyebrows rose. "Supposedly abandoned?" he asked in wonder and earned a nod.

"That's what information we had... before the explosion. It seems though that at least parts of the area where still in use. Even the president was not informed about that, we believe that they tested secret defensive-weapons. Something went wrong though, obviously and great parts of the base were destroyed. Optimus who was on patrol sensed that, during the last contact we had he mentioned that he had noticed a big source of Energon, that's when we lost him. I immediately sent a team of my men into his direction, luckily though Ironhide was with us, he was the only one who could get near the body. The whole base was infested with Energon, we couldn't go closer than a few hundred feet to Optimus."

Sam sighed and a similar sound, however it had a metallic ring, could be heard coming from the autobots.

"That's just weird, why would there be an Energon field? Did you check if there was any decepticon activity located near that area?"

"Sure we did, we're no amateurs boy." Lennox grimly answered but shook his head no in the same process.

"We checked everything but nothing suggests that Megatron or his followers had anything to do with it. That's a first but it is true. It was a human project. The minister of defense suggested a secret agent service, or a secret military branch, the kinds of Sector 7. We questioned Simmons about that but he doesn't know anything either."

Putting a hand on Sam's shoulder, Lennox turned the boy around to look him in the eye.

"Let's go get something to eat and drink, you've had a long ride here, wasn't it? The big guy is gonna make it, if he wasn't strong enough for this he would have died already. Don't you think that Optimus Prime would not simply die for nothing? That's not his style!"

Sam nodded but looked over at Bumblebee who had watched Lennox and him intently.

"You're right!"

* * *

_**42 hours ago**_

The Matrix of the Leadership remained a mystery. Whatever they did it would not give away it's secrets.

Professor Arthur Foxworth was watching the artifact with big eyes through thick glass but even though he could practically feel it's raw energy making every single small hair on his body stand, he just couldn't figure out how to turn this thing on. Although this frustrated him immensely at the same time he was rather pleased with the objects uncooperativity. If this small thing really held the power of an A-bomb then it was best no one knew how to use it.

But in his heart he was nothing but a scientist and he would do about anything to find out more about his studying-object, as would the team he had gathered around him.

His train of thought was broken as a younger collegue came up to him. She was pretty, he remembered her name was Dana and her smile dazzled him. What he wouldn't give to be a few years younger...

"We're ready, professor!" she told him and smiled up at him in the same way like before.

She sure was a beautiful young woman, he pondered whether or not he should ask her out for a drink after work.

"Professor?"

"Ah, I'm sorry, Dana. I was in deep thought. What did you say?" he asked and hoped she would smile once more but all she did was frown a little.

"It's Lana, professor!" Damn... he sighed in annoyance.

"Well then, let's start. By now I'm pretty sure we'll be going home in half an hour. This won't work, nothing worked before. Set up the laser and turn it on full power, right in the middle of this thing. Let's see what we got."

The petit rehead left to go talk to one of the other team-members and Foxworth saw her pointing in his direction and then at the laser they'd set up just above the Matrix.

He listened to the beeping sound that announced that the machine was ready, waited a few seconds longer than necessary to add at least a little drama to this highly scientific process and then nodded at the lab assistant to turn on the laser beam.

Nothing happened at all...

Arthur Foxworth sighed, he had known this would not work. Now really, trying to pry open some unknown and advanced alien-technology with limited human means.

He turned around after prying his eyes from the Matrix and waved his hand at the lab assistant. Before that one could move a finger though Foxworth felt immense heat building up behind him and before he could even think about what this could possibly mean, he and his team of scientists were no more.

* * *

_**40 hours ago**_

He had finally reached his destination, Optimus could tell as he scanned the area for any sort of live. The whole landscape was practically infested with the (to this planet) alien concept of Energon. How, he was not sure yet but would find out. Until then he'd remained in his truck-disguise but seeing no need to hide quickly transformed before making his way to the still smoldering remains of a human building.

It was probably of no use but he pried away large pieces of trash in hopes of finding any survivors.

Quarter an hour later this assumption had been proven correct and although saddened by the fact that once again innocents had died because of an ancient war, he wondered why these little humans had obviously tried to use something they had no information about.

A mechanical sigh escaped Optimus Prime as he tossed one last giant piece of rock aside, not believing he would find anything. This time however he was proven wrong.

Astonishment was written on his face. One who believed that just because Cybertronians were mechanical forms of life they could not display such emotion was proven wrong.

"It still exists!"

Careful not to damage anything Optimu's large fingers picked up something small from the ground. It glowed like an eye of fire in the middle of the night.

"The Matrix!"

Not believing his eyes, he quickly turned on his radio-system to contact the base and tell Lennox, but the small thing in his hand suddenly glowed even brighter, burning with an unknown energy, even to him.

"No...!"

With a flash, everything vanished from around him, all he could see was white, a bright, blinding white.

"Hello?" Optimus tried to tap his radio system but found he could not move a limb. "Lennox?" Nothing!

"Ironhide, Ratchet? Bumblebee? Autobots can you hear me?" Nothing!

* * *

_**39 hours ago**_

"Ironhide, what is going on there?" Robert Epps tried to contact the autobot but got no answer. He refrained to watch as the weapons specialist was having a hard time, a few hundred feet away. Through his field glasses he could see that Ironhide was carrying Optimus Prime on his back, away from the heap of ruins they'd seen on the satellite scans.

"Get the heavy goods transporter ready! It's Optimus, he's hurt!" Epps ordered his men in a loud voice, before cursing silently. This was not good.

* * *


	2. Chapter 1

Author's Note: Sorry for the long wait guys, I had lots to do for work. I work in a hotel and even though summer's pretty much over we've just as much to do as during summer break. It's pretty strange but we've got a full house even though it's the end of september, it's just not normal.

ANYWAY, thank you guys SO much for reviewing (you know who I mean ;) ) and faving this story, that means a lot to mean. I hope you're not too upset about the wait, I can definitely say that I'll seldom update more than twice a month, so sorry for that forwards.

Well now, have fun reading and please do not hesitate ro review! I love reading reviews, getting to know your opinion on the story and I love hearing of your ideas of where to take this.  
Besides, there's a tiny little bit of romance in here, have fun searching for it. :)

* * *

**Chapter One**

Sam was sitting still as a statue, his head buried in his hands on one of the few chairs in the small "chill out" area Lennox' men had set up. He'd had four giant cups of coffee and couldn't keep his feet still, tapping to an unknown beat, while in his head all of the information jumbled up. The outcome was a horrible daydream of the autobot leader never waking up again, forever to remain in this half-dead, half-alive condition.

Lennox had left him there a while ago to go look after his men and brief Epps about further approach of the situation.

Somehow the young Witwicky had dozed off then, the stresses, strains and worries too much for his body to take, even after massive caffeine consumption. The ticking of the clock on the wall to his left had lulled him and was ever present even in his sleep, as if it was telling him that time was running out.

A little later Sam awoke startled, an uproar was taking place outside of the small cabin he was sitting in and his first glance aimed for the clock which had stopped ticking strange enough at five minutes before 12 pm.

"Must be the batteries..." he rumbled to himself and got up quickly making his chair fall over, scratching on the floor loudly.

As fast as his feet would take him he rushed to the area where he heard the noise taking place, surprised to find Ratchet surrounded by a bunch of soldiers and the other autobots, hissing, sitting on his aft right on the floor. The autobot held his twitching left arm pressed to him.

"What has happened?" Sam demanded, "Is it the decepticons? Are they here?"

No one reacted to him, everyone scrambling around an obviously hurt Ratchet. His eyes scanned the area carefully but could not detect any sign of the enemy.

It was Bumblebee, who finally turned around to him, waving for Sam to come over.

Warily the young man stepped forward and was immediately noticed by the others. They all seemed strangely agitated in a positive way the humans grinning widely and the robots buzzing happily, all besides Ratchet.

"What happened?" Sam spoke up again.

"I know now," the autobot medic replied mysteriously his optics zooming in on Sam, "he's going to make it, I'm sure."

Ironhide grunted in response, he too seemed less grumpy than usual.

"I run various scans on Optimus and one directly on his spark," Ratchet continued and grunted as he got up from his aft, leaving his hurt arm hang limply by his side.

"there's not a thing wrong with the mechanics, it was his spark." he shook his head in a very human way, apparently disappointed in himself for not finding out earlier.

"During the explosion somehow Optimus came in direct contact with an immense amount of pure Energon, so much that it leaked into his spark. You all remember the Allspark and what happened to Megatron after Sam forced the two together, to keep it simple he overloaded. The same now happened to Optimus, although I'm very sure that the Allspark had nothing to do with it. Whatever it was," he halted his speech for a moment to run a scan on his limb body part, "the expanse of Energon was too much for his spark to hold and it was close to implosion. Then his regenerative program kicked in and that's what saved him, his systems simply closed down not charging from his spark anymore and what happened then was never told in Cybertronian history before, although I would think that it's happened before." he sighed.

"His spark split up into a core and an outer layer, the core is made up of anti-Energon, created due to the Energon-inertia pressed together forcefully, the outer layer, keeping the core from bursting is of Energon. The Antigon as I like to call it and the Energon are as symbiotic as they are rejective. It is strange and a dangerous composition but once Optimus' spark has settled and all particles slow down to their "normal", as would be, pace his program will kick in again. He will wake, I calculated and, this is based on theories however, it will take him about two hours, 42 minutes," he stilled for a millisecond, "and 34 seconds, plus or minus 5 seconds approximately."

Everyone was quiet letting the latest news sink in while Ratchet was engaged with fixing up his arm.

"But how did your arm get hurt?" Sam inquired once more and raised an eyebrow in question.

Ironhide made a strange gesture and turned around, a metallic rumble that resembled a choked laugh escaping him.

"Ah, I stumbled... purely out of shock of course." Ratchet quickly turned back to his patient.

* * *

_**2 hours, 38 minutes later**_

Ratchet's arm had been repaired, the medic and Ironhide had found several items they'd used to replace the damaged parts.

By now the group was awaiting the moment of Optimus awakening anxiously, although they didn't doubt that Ratchet knew what he had been talking about all of them feared that he had been wrong anyway. Without their composed leader what was the team of autobots after all? A bunch of disorganized Cybertronians, even Ironhide had admitted that much after receiving an incoming message from the twins. Mudflap had somehow managed to get into a fight with a decepticon and had been seen by various humans while transforming. Not that it mattered after the whole world had seen video material of gigantic transforming robots battling right at the foot of and even on top of the Gizeh pyramids.

By now both twins had returned to Mission city, getting fixed up by Jolt who had met them halfway after he'd dropped of Sam at the secret base they were residing.

Then it had remained quiet for the past hours with each little noise getting them on their feet. None would break the silence though, seemingly afraid to be the first. However it was this silence though that saved them in the end.

A sudden sound, still distant but obvious to all of their ears (including any kinds of hearing devices) startled them and listening to it closely Lennox immediately contacted Robert Epps on the surface.

"Epps, Epps," he inquired forcefully, "can you hear me? What is going on?", the earth began to shook below their feet and the rumbling increased by the second.

A humming sound that drowned out anything the others might have said was their only answer, until suddenly the faint voice of Seargant Epps came through:

"Will? The latest satellite scans show..." again the humming drowned his chopped off words out, "moving below... … … the heat scan... … … it's … ...cons. We contacted...", whatever connection they'd had broke off completely. Lennox looked crestfallen.

"This definitely isn't an earthquake guys," he turned to them, "get armed and ready to fight! Something huge is coming for us."

Ironhide already had all of his guns out as the young mayor looked in his direction.

"What do you think Ironhide?", the weapons specialist zoomed his optics in on Lennox, his face shield had already come up to protect him from any facial damage during the upcoming fight.

"It's a red herring!" the robot replied after searching through his internal dictionary for the right word. Lennox nodded, "I thought so, too! They'll wait for us to come out of our hole and then attack from the skies while hoping we'll leave Optimus down here with almost no protection. We'll stay here, fight them off and hope for reinforcement."

They all nodded in agreement.

"Sam!" Ironhide spoke up, "Take the stairs up and tell Epps to call the other autobots, I cannot reach them, our transmitters seem to have been blocked, that's Soundwave's doing. Don't take the elevator it isn't safe."

Sam nodded in trance and his feet took him towards the staircase quickly. Half the way up he heard a crashing sound from down below and tried to go even faster, several times stumbling over his own feet.

"Protect Optimus at any costs!" Ironhide ordered his fellow team members and positioned himself in front of his leader and a wall that already featured large cracks, "He's going to wake up any minute now.", the cracks got even larger, some parts crumbled, dust engulfed them. The seconds ticked away and then... the wall broke, splitting apart completely to give view on a colossal drill-head.

"That's Menasor!" Ratchet awed, "I thought he died on Cybertron!"

"Well he didn't, so let's make sure he will now!" Ironhide replied before starting off in the direction of the still turning drill-head, not even waiting for the rest of the mammoth decepticon to show. He blasted several cannon shots into the hole of the wall and looked pleased when the earth crumbled around the other robot. Slowly the drill head stopped its movement and then stilled.

A moment of hope filled all of them that the battle had been decided before it began.

At the same time Sam reached the surface, finding the small camp demolished. Frightened he looked around for the soldiers, making out several huddled figures behind large boulders of what once had been buildings. One of them had seen him and gestured for him to turn around and go back inside quickly.

Just then several missiles impacted only a short distance away from him raising dust so thick that he could not see his own feet anymore. Guessing what direction was the safest to take Sam quickly staggered away, tripping several times in his frenzy.

He could hear an angered uproar resonating somewhere behind him and then the earth shaking as something big struck.

A large iron hand hit the ground what felt like only a few centimeters away from him and Sam saw two red optics staring at him as he turned, but they slowly dimmed, fading into the dust. His breath had reached an even unknown pace to him then and he fell to his knees, not noticing that the fingers on the claw-like hand were still twitching. Unanticipatedly they wrapped around one of his legs and pulled at him. The young man let out a scream of horror as he found himself right in front of a robot's face.

"Remember me boy, my name is Oil Slick and I'll make you puny humans tremble in fear when my time's come."

Roughly he pushed the boy away from him and Sam tried to catch his fall but felt his head bump onto the ground nonetheless. He was out in a second.

The white light around him was making him crazy and as often as he'd called out into it he'd gotten no answer. His transmitter was either not working anymore or something was blocking it. None of his senses seemed to work at all.

So now Optimus Prime had settled to just waiting and felt like he was floating in nothingness, damned to remain here for the rest of his pitiful existence. However he began to notice sorts of discoloring in the whiteness. There seemed to appear edges, something that looked like a horizon. He put it off as his optics playing tricks on him.

Then some time later he was pretty sure that he felt a certain force, a kind of gravity pressing him to where would be the ground. But this place had no skies and no ground, so what was happening to him?

Once again he called out and was surprised to find that he received an answer. Although it was only an echo of his own words it was something to work with. He tried out his transmitter and the buzzing sound almost frightened him, it hadn't buzzed before.

"It is you, Optimus, last one of the Primes, is it not?"

This time he really was astonished. Something called him and he could sense its presence. His Cybertronian instincts took over and he felt his body and armor suit once more as it shifted to form something slightly more useful in this world. He did not know what it was but it certainly felt right.

With a sudden boost, he catapulted himself a long distance further and found himself closer to the source of the voice.

"Here, Prime! Come closer."

He wondered what its owner wanted but did not hesitate to go closer, what had he to loose after all?

Then he reached a spot where the presence was perceptible the most. A glowing sphere marked the spot, distinctly pulsing. It reminded him of a spark and careful not to harm he rounded it taking in its beauty.

"Do you wonder what this is, Optimus Prime?"

He beeped, somehow knowing that the source of the voice would understand this Cybertronian sign.

"This is indeed a spark, though it is not a spark like yours, your friends' or mine even was."

Once again he beeped in question while he felt his body reform once again.

He felt his arms by side once more and slowly raised them to carefully cup the spark and protect it.

"You are right to keep it close, but do not worry I will not do any harm to it. I cannot, I'm nonexistent anymore, just a mere memory that once was deeply hidden in your program. I'm part of you, part of your program, installed only to inform you about what awaits you along the path you've taken. Your creators hoped I would never have to surface but here I am."

"What are you?" the last Prime asked, now mistrust in his voice.

"No, no I answered _that _question, now you must ask who I was." Optimus beeped once more anger apparent in the harshness of the tone. He felt the deepest fear for this small spark in his hands. The voice sighed.

"I once was a Cybertronian soldier by the name of Punch, I was an autobot just like yourself... well, I was no Prime for that matter but I possessed an ability that no other did: I could adopt a second robot mode that when I was in it went by the name of Counterpunch. Perfect to infiltrate the decepticon ranks and that I did. However I failed the autobots, my alter ego took on its own personality, or maybe I was simply schizophrenic and I turned on them. I do not know for sure, it's been a long time, some time before your creation even, Prime.

When the autobots found out that I was know a double agent for the decepticons they turned my systems off and destroyed most of my program. What remained is the little that is speaking to you now. I was indeed given a second chance, ironically I possess not a single robot mode anymore, but my program has been rewritten and integrated into yours. I will supply you with what information you need from here on, Optimus, until you don't need me anymore. Then I will delete any remains of myself from your hard disks."

Silence took over between the voice that had itself Punch and Optimus Prime.

"Prime, it is important that you accept this fact, do not try to erase me from your program yet, it would do severe damage."

"So then explain to me," Optimus scanned the areal with his optics, "what is this here and why are we here?"

"This is your program Prime, a small part of it, and what you're holding clasped so tightly," shocked Optimus loosened his grip, "is your destiny."

The voice grumbled, "We have no time anymore, they've come to kill you. You need to awaken, Prime and face them. I will explain when it is due time, we'll spend lots of it together from now on."

"What do you mean awaken?" Optimus asked dumbfounded, "I tried to but my systems just will not reboot!" "That's because a program needs certain adjustments before you can do so, try again. It will work now! And don't worry about the spark, I'll watch her for you!"

His rebooting systems were already working as Optimus wondered what Punch meant by _her._"

The white faded into black and the nothingness into too much.

Crashing sounds immediately met his hearing and his senses took in the scent of humans, several of them fearing for their lives and several other stenches.

Optimus turned on his optics and instinctively rolled to his side just a moment before something large crashed right where he'd lain before.

He felt something that a human would describe as feeling refreshed but it was more of a new power inside of him as he rose and faced the debacle around him.

His teammates, including Lennox and his men were hardly holding themselves up against a monstrous decepticon that he himself had fought against on Cybertron, many years ago.

"Menasor!" Optimus roared and his face shield went up in defense as the giant turned away from Ironhide to scan the renewed Prime.

A metallic screech echoed from the worm-like, robotic creature as it leaped on him.

Optimus held up his left arm, his intuition guiding him and created a shield of blue Energon from which Menasor recoiled. The robot's drill head began turning and the decepticon tried to fight his way through the shield which only resulted in severe cauterizing of his drill. Again this resulted in a screech, as his other end lashed around taking Optimus by surprise, pulling him to his feet.

Several canons popped up alongside Menasor's long body aiming for his opponent. All at once fired of missiles. Again Optimus dived to another side and the missiles missed their target instead boosting a gaping whole into a thick wall. The autobot leader quickly drew his Energon sword and jolted for Menasor's exposed backside. With a swift move he cut the worm in two.

"Finally you're back!" were the first words he heard after the dust had settled, spoken from none other then William Lennox.

* * *


End file.
